EZRA MOMENT – (21MAY19) Israel had been in Babylonian
captivity for seventy years. This had been a judgment on them due to their
rebellion against God who had brought them out of Egypt. God wanted them to be
the spiritual lighthouses of the world and not to be known as political monarchies.
God desired for Israel to be a role model unto the world through which the
promise of salvation would come. Their Babylonian captivity served to show them
that their identity in God was to be a spiritual one and not merely a political
one. Therefore, they were never able to be independent of outside foreign kings
again as they once had been. Everything that they did had to be approved by
Cyrus, but God used him to help them rebuild the temple because God still
wanted to dwell among them in a physical building. The time had not come for
when Christians’ hearts would replace the physical temple. Yet, that day was to
come when God would no longer seek an earthly temple, but the followers of
Christ themselves would be the spiritual temple in which He would dwell.
Many ministries take great pride in their campuses,
elaborate buildings, television ministries, earthy monuments and empires that
many have made unto themselves. Yet, God desires simplicity. He desires hearts
where He can dwell. Jesus did not die for a manmade building. He came so that
we may have life more abundantly. We are the temple of God in which He desires
to dwell. The Jews had to go to an earthly building, but we are to carry Jesus
in our hearts every day. We do not have to make sacrifices as the priests did
in Ezra’s day because Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for all times and there
will never be a need to shed the blood of an animal ever again for the guilt of
sin. Our Jewish brothers and sisters have it wrong with the rebuilding of the
third temple in an attempt to begin sacrifices to God once again. Yet, we must
pray for them and witness whenever possible because they are in need of the
Savior as we all are. Something to ponder…
QUESTION OF
THE DAY – (21MAY19) Why has President Trump been compared to King Cyrus? When
President Trump announced the move of the United States’ embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem, many within the Christian community favored the move and viewed
it as being a prophetic fulfillment because it was to take place within days of
Israel’s 70th anniversary of becoming a nation again. Many
evangelicals looked at the number seven’s biblical meaning of perfection and
the number ten’s meaning of completion as significant in the number of times seventy
is used in the Bible as it relates to the Jewish people, which is fifty times.
Here are some of the comparisons that some biblical scholars have used to
support this belief:
·
In
Israel’s 70th year of independence (Hebrew year 5778), the United
States embassy was moved by President Trump to Jerusalem.
·
President
Trump was 70 years, 7 months, and 7 days old when he took office in 2017.
·
President
Trump was born 700 days before Israel’s statehood on May 14, 1948.
·
President
Trump was elected on Benjamin Netanyahu’s 7th year, 7th
month, and 7th full day in office.
·
A
total solar eclipse occurred 7 months after President Trump’s first day in
office.
This was taken from www.myolivetree.com.
Rather right or wrong, there is something that people need to remember here…
Israel had been in captivity for seventy years prior to their release. Prior to
their being a Cyrus, there was a Nebuchadnezzar who was attached to Israel’s
judgment. Christians must remember that we (United States) have many similarities
to the Israel of old and we must know that the Babylonians are coming because
of our rebellions as well. Something to ponder…
EZRA MOMENT
– (21MAY19) Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland after spending
seventy-years in Babylonian captivity. You may have noticed that there was a
similarity between when the Israelites left Egypt and when they left Babylon? God
told Moses to have the Israelites ask their Egyptian captors to give them gold,
silver, fabric., etc. Likewise, Cyrus told
the neighbors of the Jews to give them gold, silver, livestock and goods. In
both cases, the people did not return empty-handed. They had what they needed
to pay for the rebuilding of the temple where the Lord could once again dwell.
There are
times in our lives when we may feel as if we have been in Babylonian captivity.
Life may not have turned out the way that you always hoped for, and you seemed
to be in exile from the life that you thought you would have had. Well, there still
is hope. God did not allow His children to leave empty and neither will you.
You may be still waiting for many of your dreams to be fulfilled, but God will
not withhold any good thing from those who serve Him. Rather you receive it
here on earth and/or after you leave, there is a great reward awaiting you if
you persevere to the end. Remember, the captivity may seem like it’s forever,
but a life with God is for eternity. Something to ponder…
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